The 1st
“My blood boils.”
Karan Johar’s livid comment on Caroline Dyer’s condemnable observation that the victims of the Jallianwala Bagh genocide were “looters” and “rioters”, sums it up. It sums up how every Indian should be reacting to the horrific truth about a pre-planned, hate-fuelled act of butchery on Baisakhi on the 13th of April, 1919. Caroline’s great grandfather General Reginald Dyer was the butcher of Amritsar who had orchestrated a genocide that killed more than 1,000 Indians and injured over 2,000. The official figures of the dead put out by the British at that time was a paltry 379.
Reason No 2
Every Baisakhi should be a reminder of how a festive gathering turned into a bloody massacre. In a planned conspiracy, Dyer had hemmed in the families of Indians gathered at Jallianwala Bagh, trained his machine guns on them and with no warning at all, had given the order to fire on innocent men, women and children. Until he ran out of ammunition. 106 years is a very long time to unmask the truth about what really happened in 1919.
Reason No 3
It’s often said that history will be written by the hunter until the lion learns to write. Britain was the hunter who wrote our history. But the lion has learned to write and to make movies too. We don’t always endorse all the movies that Karan Johar or Akshay Kumar make. But when they embark on a mission to stir the conscience of our nation, open our eyes to facts hidden thus far about our own people, our own history, it’s time to say, guys, we’re with you.
Reason No 4
Akshay Kumar may have had more setbacks at the box-office than he can count on his fingers. But when he grabs your attention with one of his most passionate performances to tell the untold and real story of Indian lawyer, C Sankaran Nair’s legal battle against the British Empire, at a time when we were still under its mighty rule, the lion must have its roar.
Reason No 5
Ananya Panday, the youngest in the lead cast of Kesari Chapter 2, has said that doing this film and understanding the depth of the untold tragedy, has changed her life forever. A genocide that got an incomplete mention in our history books. After ditzy films like Student Of The Year and Call Me Bae, Kesari Chapter 2 is Ananya’s first step forward as an actress in a period film. Playing the substantial role of a young lawyer with a conscience has changed Ananya’s life. Watching the film should change our lives too.
Reason No 6
Urinal humour is a brand of humour attributed to Winston Churchill who one day met Prime Minister Clement Atlee in the cloakroom of the House of Commons. When Churchill stood far away from Atlee, the latter remarked, “Stand offish, are we today, Winston?” To this, came Churchill’s quick-witted repartee, “Yes. Every time you see something big, you want to nationalise it.” That urinal humour can be seen even in the trailer of Kesari 2 where Akshay Kumar playing lawyer Sankaran Nair is told off that the cloakroom is only for the Empire. Nair sneers down at the Brit and says pithily, “The Empire is shrinking.” It’s a ceetee–maaro moment for Indians.
The Empire has shrunk since 1919.
Reason No 7
One month ago, filmmaker Ram Madhvani had released his limited series “The Waking Of A Nation” on SonyLiv, on the same subject of an Indian lawyer who had fought the British Empire to bring to the fore the truth about the Jallianwala Bagh conspiracy and genocide. To this, Karan Johar remarked that irrespective of the format, film, documentary, web series, whatever, he welcomed whatever it takes to awaken the nation. Let’s tell the untold story as many times as it needs to be told to embed it in our records.
Reason No 8
Watching Kesari 2 is not just to applaud Karan Johar, Akshay Kumar and director Karan Singh Tyagi for writing the untold story of an unsung hero on celluloid. It’s also to support the unveiling of a planned genocide that was hidden from the world for far too long.
Reason No 9
Is it only about demanding an apology from the British? To be fair, six years ago, on the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Prime Minister Theresa May had not just expressed her deep regret but had also called it, “A shameful scar on British Indian History, a distressing example of our past history with India.”
So, it’s not just about an apology but about recording a truth and correcting our history. Forever.
Must Read: Patriotism on Reel: Akshay Kumar’s Journey to Becoming Bharat Kumar 2.0
